JP4816492B2 - Trackball unit and recording / reproducing apparatus - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a recording / reproducing apparatus that generates musical sounds according to a user's performance operation on a plurality of operators.

Applicants have proposed a performance device called Tenorion (registered trademark) (see Non-Patent Document 1, for example). This performance apparatus is an operation in which input devices having built-in light emitting means such as LEDs (Light Emitting Diodes) are arranged in a 16 × 16 matrix in which the horizontal axis represents sound generation timing and the vertical axis represents pitch. Has a panel. Each of these 256 input devices is a so-called tact switch for allowing the user to specify sound generation timing and pitch. Then, when a predetermined operation for instructing the start of performance is performed, the performance device moves the virtual scroll bar in order from the left column of the matrix, and the scroll bar is placed on the pressed device. When it arrives, the light emitting means of the device is caused to emit light, and a sound having a pitch assigned to the device is generated.
“Tenorion”, [online], Yamaha, Internet <URL: http: //www.yamaha.co.jp/design/tenori-on/>

  By the way, when the pitch of the sound to be sounded and the sounding timing are specified, the degree of the sound effect (for example, pitch bend) to be given at the time of sounding and other sound parameters (for example, volume and velocity) are also determined. It is convenient to be able to specify. However, since each input device of the performance device disclosed in Non-Patent Document 1 is a tact switch, it is not suitable for inputting various information. In order to solve such a problem, it is conceivable to provide an operation element such as a pitch bend wheel separately from the operation element for designating the pitch and the sound generation timing. However, in such an embodiment, it is necessary to simultaneously perform an operation for designating the pitch and timing of the sound to be pronounced and an operation for designating the acoustic effect to be given at the time of sounding using separate operators. There is a problem that it is not easy to understand or interesting.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and makes it possible to perform input / output of abundant information with one input / output device, and to enable input / output rich in fun. The purpose is to provide.

  In order to solve the above-described problems, the present invention provides a spherical operation element, a support unit that rotatably supports the operation element, and a rotation amount and a rotation direction of the operation element that rotates while being supported by the support unit. When the sensor for detecting and outputting rotation amount data indicating the detection result and rotation control data indicating the rotation direction and rotation amount of the operation element are given from the outside, the operation element is controlled according to the rotation control data. There is provided a trackball unit having a driving means for rotating.

  In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides an input / output means in which a plurality of the trackball units are arranged in a matrix, a storage means, and one of two operation modes of a recording mode and a reproduction mode. In the recording mode, the rotation amount data output from the sensor of each trackball unit constituting the input / output unit is written to the storage unit for each trackball unit, while in the reproduction mode, A recording unit that sequentially reads out the rotation amount data stored in the storage unit for each trackball and supplies the rotation amount data to the driving unit of the corresponding trackball unit as the rotation control data, and a switch that switches an operation mode of the control unit. A playback device is provided. According to such a recording / reproducing apparatus, the operation mode is switched by the switch, and in the recording mode, an operation performed on each operator by the user is recorded. In the reproducing mode, each operation is performed in the recording mode. The operation performed on the child is reproduced by the rotational drive of the operator. Here, since the rotation of the operation element is expressed as a rotation amount around three axes that pass through the center of gravity of the operation element and are orthogonal to each other, at least three types of information are recorded in one trackball unit according to the recording / reproducing apparatus. I / O becomes possible.

  In a more preferred aspect, there is audio output means for outputting an audio signal under the control of the control means, and each trackball unit is associated with a different audio in advance, and the control means In the reproduction mode, when the rotation amount data read from the storage means is given as the rotation control data to the driving means of the corresponding trackball unit, the audio output indicating that the sound corresponding to the trackball unit is output. The means is controlled. In such an aspect, the user's operation on each operation element recorded in the recording mode is reproduced as the rotation drive of each operation element and the output of the audio signal corresponding to the operation element in the reproduction mode.

  In a further preferred aspect, the rotation direction of the operation element of each trackball unit is associated with the type of acoustic effect to be given to the sound corresponding to the trackball unit, and the rotation amount is associated with the acoustic effect. The control means controls the audio output means to output audio signals corresponding to the respective trackballs in the playback mode. When the rotation amount data is received from the sensor, the sound output means is controlled to give the sound of the type indicated by the rotation amount data to the sound at the degree indicated by the rotation amount data. The user's operation on each operation element recorded in the recording mode is reproduced as a rotation drive of each operation element and an output of an audio signal corresponding to the operation element in the reproduction mode.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to perform input / output of abundant information with one input / output device, and it is possible to perform input / output rich in fun.

The best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
(A: Configuration)
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a recording / reproducing apparatus 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention.
As shown in FIG. 1, the recording / reproducing apparatus 1 has a thin, substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape, and on a plane, a display unit 210 made up of a liquid crystal display or the like, and an operation unit made up of a plurality of operators such as a record button and a play button. 220 and an operation panel 230 are provided. The recording / reproducing apparatus 1 operates in one of two operation modes, a recording mode and a reproduction mode, and the operation unit 220 is used for switching the operation mode. The recording mode is an operation mode in which a series of user operations performed on the operation panel 230 is recorded, and the reproduction mode is a reproduction of an operation performed on the operation panel 230 by the user in the recording mode. At the same time, it is an operation mode in which sound is reproduced according to the operation content. The display unit 210 is for notifying the user of the operation mode by displaying information indicating the operation mode set by operating the operation unit 220.

  FIG. 2 is a plan view of the operation panel 230. As shown in FIG. 2, the operation panel 230 has a total of 256 input / output devices 100 arranged in a 16 × 16 matrix. The arrangement positions of these 256 input / output devices 100 are two-dimensional coordinates (XY coordinates) by assuming the Y axis in the column direction of the matrix and the X axis in the row direction as shown in FIG. Can show. For example, the arrangement position of the input / output device 100 in the Nth row and Mth column (N: integer of 1 to 16, M: integer of 1 to 16) is indicated by coordinates (M, N). In the following, the direction in which the Y coordinate value increases (for example, the direction from (1, 1) to (1, 16)) is referred to as “+ Y direction”, and conversely, the direction in which the Y coordinate decreases is “ Called “−Y direction”. Similarly, the direction in which the value of the X coordinate increases (for example, the direction from (1, 1) to (16, 1)) is referred to as “+ X direction”, and conversely, the direction in which the value of the X coordinate decreases decreases to “ It is called “−X direction”. In the following, the coordinate axis orthogonal to both the X axis and the Y axis is referred to as the “Z axis”, the direction away from the XY plane along the Z axis is the “+ Z direction”, and the opposite direction is the “−Z direction”. "

  In the recording / reproducing apparatus 1, like the performance apparatus disclosed in Non-Patent Document 1 described above, predetermined pitches and sound generation timings are initially set in each of the 256 input / output devices 100. Specifically, pitches from C3 to D5 are assigned to the input / output devices 100 in the first to sixteenth rows. For example, the input / output device 100 in the first row (the input / output device 100 whose Y coordinate is 1) has a pitch of C3, and the input / output device 100 in the second row has a pitch of D3. The input / output device 100 is assigned a pitch of D5. On the other hand, the first to sixteenth beat sound generation timings are assigned to the input / output devices 100 in the first to sixteenth columns. For this reason, the recording / playback apparatus 1 operating in the playback mode, as with the performance apparatus, is controlled by the virtual scroll bar described above, and the pitch corresponding to the input / output device 100 operated (pressed) in the recording mode. In addition, sound can be reproduced sequentially at the sounding timing. In addition, in this embodiment, since each of the input / output devices 100 configuring the operation panel 230 is configured by a combination of the trackball unit 110 having the spherical operation element 112 and the tact switch 120, one input / output is performed. Various information can be input by operating the device 100. Below, the structure of the input / output device 100 which is a difference with the performance apparatus disclosed by the nonpatent literature 1 is demonstrated first.

  3A is a cross-sectional view of the input / output device 100 (a cross-sectional view taken along a plane perpendicular to the XY plane and passing through the center of the operation element 112). As shown in FIG. 3A, the input / output device 100 includes a tact switch 120 and a trackball unit 110 supported above the tact switch 120 by a biasing member 130 such as a spring with a predetermined interval. Contains. The tact switch 120 is for detecting an operation for designating a pitch and a sound generation timing of a sound to be generated in the reproduction mode. When the user performs an operation of pushing each trackball unit 110 into the operation panel 230 with a fingertip or the like, the urging member 130 bends according to the pushing operation, and the tact switch 120 is turned on by the bottom surface of the trackball unit 110. It is done. The biasing member 130 prevents the tact switch 120 from being pressed by its own weight, and lifts the pressed trackball unit 110 to the initial position when the user releases the finger. This is for returning the tact switch directly under the trackball unit 110 to the OFF state.

As shown in FIG. 3A, the configuration of the trackball unit 110 is roughly divided into an operation element 112 and a support member 114 that rotatably supports the operation element 112 while keeping the position of the center of gravity G constant. The The support member 114 incorporates three sensors, that is, rotation amount detection sensors 116x, 116y, and 116z in order to detect the rotation direction and the rotation amount of the operation element 112. Each of the rotation amount detection sensors 116x, 116y, and 116z is, for example, a shaft sensor, and detects the rotation amount around the x axis, the rotation amount around the y axis, and the rotation amount around the z axis shown in FIG. A signal indicating the detection result (that is, a signal indicating the rotation amount) is output. Here, each of the x-axis, the y-axis, and the z-axis is a rotation axis that passes through the center of gravity G of the operation element 112 and is orthogonal to each other, as shown in FIG. Parallel to the axis. In the following, as shown in FIG. 3B, the clockwise rotation direction with respect to the direction from the center of gravity of the operator 112 toward the outside is defined as a positive rotation direction. In the present embodiment, a predetermined acoustic effect or acoustic parameter is associated with each of the three rotation axes in advance. Specifically, velocity is associated with the x-axis, pitch bend with the y-axis, and volume with the z-axis. In addition, the support member 114 incorporates drive motors 118x, 118y, and 118z for rotating the operation element 112 about the x-axis, y-axis, and z-axis as rotation axes in the reproduction mode.
The above is the configuration of the input / output device 100.

  Since the operation panel 230 is configured by arranging the input / output devices 100 described above in a matrix, the user rotates the operation element 112 of the trackball unit while pushing the trackball unit 110 in the recording mode described above. In addition to the pitch of the sound to be sounded and the sounding timing in the playback mode, the velocity, volume, and pitch bend degree of the sound can be designated by the rotation direction and the rotation amount of the operation element 112. it can. In the recording mode, the recording / reproducing apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment performs processing (hereinafter referred to as recording processing) for storing data representing a user operation performed on each input / output device 100, and in the reproducing mode. The sound generation is performed in accordance with the data recorded in the recording process, and the process (reproduction process) for reproducing the operation performed in the recording mode by the rotational drive of each operator is executed. Hereinafter, a configuration for realizing the recording process and the reproduction process, that is, an electrical configuration of the recording / reproducing apparatus 1 will be described.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing an electrical configuration of the recording / reproducing apparatus 1.
As shown in FIG. 4, in addition to the display unit 210 and the operation unit 220 described above, the recording / reproducing apparatus 1 includes a sensor interface unit 240, a drive motor driver 250, an audio output unit 260, a control unit 270, a storage unit 280, and It has a bus 290 that mediates data exchange between these components.

  In the sensor interface unit 240, the rotation amount detection sensors 116x, 116y and 116z of the trackball unit 110 and the tact switch 120 are connected to different ports for each trackball unit. When the sensor interface unit 240 receives the output signal of the tact switch 120 via any of the ports, the control unit 270 determines an identifier (hereinafter, unit identifier) that uniquely identifies the trackball unit 110 connected to the port. Hand over to Further, when the sensor interface unit 240 receives the detection signals of the rotation amount detection sensors 116x, 116y, and 116z together with the output signal of the tact switch 120, the sensor interface unit 240 performs A / D conversion on the detection signals and indicates the conversion result. The data is delivered to the control unit 270 together with the unit identifier.

  The drive motor driver 250 has a plurality of ports respectively associated with the trackball units 110 described above. Drive motors 118x, 118y, and 118z included in the corresponding trackball unit 110 are connected to each port. When the drive motor driver 250 receives from the control unit 270 the above-described unit identifier and data indicating the rotation amount around each rotation axis (that is, data indicating the rotation direction and rotation amount: hereinafter, rotation control data), The drive control of each of the drive motors 118x, 118y and 118z of the trackball unit 110 identified by the unit identifier is performed according to the rotation control data.

As shown in FIG. 4, the audio output unit 260 is MIDI (Electronically Erasable and
Programmable Read Only Memory) -I / O section 260a and MIDI sound source 260b are included. The MIDI-I / O unit 260a generates various MIDI events under the control of the control unit 270 and gives them to the MIDI sound source 260b. A sound system (not shown in FIG. 4) including an A / D converter, an amplifier, a speaker and the like is connected to the MIDI sound source 260b. The MIDI sound source 260b generates an audio signal in accordance with a MIDI event given from the MIDI-I / O unit 260a, and outputs it to the sound system.

  The control unit 270 is an MPU (Micro Processor Unit), for example, and operates according to a control program stored in the storage unit 280 and functions as a control center of the recording / reproducing apparatus 1. The control unit 270 operates according to the control program described above, so that each time data is received from the sensor interface unit 240 (that is, data indicating the unit identifier and the amount of rotation around each axis), the data is displayed in the data format shown in FIG. Editing and writing to the storage unit 280 (ie, the recording process described above), and a process for controlling the operation of the drive motor driver 250 and the audio output unit 260 according to the data recorded in the recording process (ie, the above-described process) Playback process). In the following, data in the data format shown in FIG. 5 is referred to as “operation content data”.

Returning to FIG. 4, the storage unit 280 includes a volatile storage unit 280a and a nonvolatile storage unit 280b. The volatile storage unit 280a is, for example, a RAM (Random Access Memory). The volatile storage unit 280a is used as a work area by the control unit 270 operating according to the control program. The nonvolatile storage unit 280b is, for example, a hard disk or an EEPROM (Electronically Erasable and
Non-volatile memory such as Programmable Read Only Memory). The nonvolatile storage unit 280b stores the control program and various data. As an example of data stored in the nonvolatile storage unit 280b, there are two types of tables shown in FIG. In the arrangement position management table shown in FIG. 6A, data indicating the arrangement position (that is, the X coordinate and the Y coordinate) of the trackball unit 110 identified by the unit identifier in association with each unit identifier described above. Is stored. This arrangement position management table is used by the control unit 270 when generating the operation content data described above by converting the unit identifier received from the sensor interface unit 240 into coordinates. On the other hand, in the pronunciation management table shown in FIG. 6B, data indicating the pitch corresponding to each Y coordinate is stored in association with each of the Y coordinate values from 1 to 16. The pronunciation management table is used by the control unit 270 when reproducing sound according to the operation content data.

  The electrical configuration of the recording / reproducing apparatus 1 has been described above. In another preferable aspect, for example, a memory interface unit for connecting a recording medium such as a USB memory or a flash memory, and a communication interface for communicating with other electronic devices May be added to the electrical configuration of the recording / reproducing apparatus 1. In the aspect of adding the memory interface unit, various types of data (for example, two types of tables and new control programs shown in FIG. 6) are read from the recording medium connected to the memory interface unit and stored in a nonvolatile manner. It can be stored in the unit 280b. In addition, in the aspect in which the communication interface unit is added, various data can be acquired from other electronic devices connected to the communication interface unit.

(B: Operation)
Next, operations performed by the recording / reproducing apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment will be described.
When the user turns on the power switch of the recording / reproducing apparatus 1, the control unit 270 writes the mode identifier indicating the recording mode in a predetermined area of the volatile storage unit 280a, and volatiles the control program described above from the nonvolatile storage unit 280b. The data is read into the property storage unit 280a and the execution is started.

  FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a flow of operations executed by the control 270 operating according to the control program. As shown in FIG. 7, the control unit 270 first refers to the mode identifier stored in the predetermined area and determines whether or not the recording mode is set as the operation mode (step SA100). For example, when the mode identifier indicating the recording mode is stored in the predetermined area, the control unit 270 determines that the operation mode is the recording mode, and conversely, the mode identifier indicating the reproduction mode is stored. If it is, the control unit 270 determines that the operation mode is the regeneration mode. When the determination result in step SA100 is “Yes” (that is, when the recording mode is determined), the control unit 270 performs a recording process (step SA110). Conversely, when the determination result in step SA100 is “No” (that is, when the playback mode is determined), the playback process (step SA120) is executed. As described above, immediately after the power switch is turned on, since the mode identifier indicating the recording mode is set in the predetermined area, the determination result in step SA100 is “Yes”, and the recording process is executed. The That is, the recording / reproducing apparatus 1 first operates in the recording mode.

  When the operation in the recording mode is started as described above, the display unit 210 of the recording / reproducing apparatus 1 displays that the operation mode is the recording mode. A user who visually recognizes this display should give the pitch, tone generation timing, and tone of sound desired to be played in the playback mode by appropriately operating each input / output device 100 constituting the operation panel 230. The degree of sound effect and its volume can be specified. On the other hand, the control unit 270 of the recording / playback apparatus 1 executes operation content data indicating the operation performed by the user on each input / output device 100 and recording processing for recording the operation content data according to the control program described above. Hereinafter, recording processing executed by the control unit 270 according to the control program will be described with reference to FIG.

(B-1: Recording process)
FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a flow of recording processing executed by the control unit 270 according to the control program. As shown in FIG. 8, the control unit 270 determines whether or not data indicating the detection result of each sensor has been received from the sensor interface unit 240 (step SB100), and when the determination result is “No”. Then, the process of step SB130 described later is executed. On the other hand, when the determination result in step SB100 is “Yes”, the control unit 270 sequentially executes the processes from step SB110 to step SB130. In step SB110, control unit 270 edits the data received in step SB100, and generates operation content data shown in FIG. In step SB120 subsequent to step SB110, control unit 270 writes and records the operation content data in nonvolatile storage unit 280b. As a result, the contents of the operation performed by the user on each input / output device 100 constituting the operation panel 230 are recorded. Thereafter, control unit 270 repeatedly executes the processes after step SB100 until the mode switching is instructed (that is, until the determination result of step SB130 becomes Yes).

  For example, the first operation of pressing the input / output device 100 whose arrangement position is (1, 1), the input / output device 100 whose arrangement position is (2, 2) is pressed, and the operator 112 is moved to x A second operation of rotating around the axis by α, a third operation of pressing the input / output device 100 whose arrangement position is (3, 4), and further rotating the operation element 112 by β around the y axis; Further, it is assumed that the input / output device 100 whose arrangement position is (4, 1) is pressed and a fourth operation for rotating the operation element 112 by γ around the z axis is performed. In this case, every time the control unit 270 receives data indicating the first to fourth operations from the sensor interface unit 240, the control unit 270 executes the processes of steps SB110 and SB120 described above. As a result, four pieces of operation content data shown in FIG. 9 are recorded in the nonvolatile storage unit 280b of the recording / reproducing apparatus 1.

After the fourth operation, when the user performs an operation for instructing switching from the recording mode to the reproduction mode (for example, pressing the reproduction button of the operation unit 220), a signal corresponding to the operation is operated. The data is transmitted from the unit 220 to the control unit 270. Receiving this signal, control unit 270 determines that mode switching has been instructed in step SB130 described above, and stores a mode identifier indicating a switching destination operation mode (reproduction mode in the present embodiment) in nonvolatile storage unit 280b. The predetermined area is overwritten (step SB140), and the recording process is terminated.
The above is the flow of the recording process executed by the control unit 270 according to the control program.

  Now, as shown in FIG. 7, the control unit 270 that has finished executing the recording process determines whether or not a power-off instruction has been given (step SA130), and if the determination result is “No”, The processes after step SA100 in FIG. 7 are repeatedly executed. As described above, in step SA100, control unit 270 refers to the stored contents of the predetermined area of nonvolatile storage unit 280b and determines the operation mode at that time. In the present operation example, the stored contents of the predetermined area are rewritten to the mode identifier indicating the playback mode in step SB140 of the recording process, so the determination result in step SA100 is “No”, and the control unit 270 Executes the reproduction process (step SA120). Hereinafter, the reproduction process executed by the control unit 270 according to the control program will be described with reference to FIG.

(B-2: Reproduction process)
FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing the flow of the reproduction process executed by the control unit 270 according to the control program. As described above, the playback process executed by the recording / playback apparatus 1 uses a virtual scroll bar, similar to the playback process performed by the performance apparatus disclosed in Non-Patent Document 1. Therefore, first, control unit 270 initializes variable M indicating the position of the virtual scroll bar (step SC100). Specifically, the control unit 270 sets “1” to the variable M.

  Next, the control unit 270 reads out the operation content data stored in the non-volatile storage unit 280b, the X coordinate value equal to the value of the variable M (step SC110), and the Y coordinate of the operation content data The sound output unit 260 is controlled to start sounding at a pitch corresponding to the value (step SC120). More specifically, in step SC120, the control unit 270 compares the Y coordinate value of the operation content data read in step SC110 with the stored content of the pronunciation management table (see FIG. 5), and the audio output unit 260. The pitch of the sound to be generated is identified, and the operation of the audio output unit 260 is controlled so as to start the sound generation at that pitch. For example, if the value of the Y coordinate of the operation content data read in step SC110 is “1”, the control unit 270 controls the audio output unit 260 to start sounding at the pitch of “C3”. If the value of the Y coordinate is 16, the audio output unit 260 is controlled to start sounding at the pitch of “D5”.

  In step SC130 executed subsequent to step SC120, control unit 270 determines whether or not the rotation amount data is included in the operation content data used for sound generation control in step SC120. More specifically, the control unit 270 includes rotation amount data when at least one of the data indicating the rotation amount around each rotation axis included in the operation content data read in step SC110 is not zero. It is determined that Then, when the determination result of SC 130 is “Yes”, the control unit 270 controls the audio output unit 260 to give the acoustic effect indicated by the rotation amount data, and the rotation amount data is rotated as described above. The control data is given to the drive motor driver 250 to control the operation of the corresponding drive motor (step SC140).

  For example, the rotation amount around each rotation axis indicated by the operation content data read out at step SC110 described above is (α, 0, 0), that is, the rotation amount around the x axis is α, and around the y and z axes. When the rotation amount is zero, in step SC130, the control unit 270 executes the following processing. That is, the control unit 270 controls the audio output unit 260 so as to change the velocity of the sound that started sounding in step SC120 by α. In addition, the control unit 270 identifies the trackball unit 110 corresponding to the X coordinate and the Y coordinate of the operation content data read in step SC110 from the stored content of the arrangement position management table (see FIG. 5), and the track The drive motor driver 250 is controlled to rotate the drive motor 118x of the ball unit 110 by the rotation amount α. Note that if the corresponding operation content data (that is, operation content data whose X coordinate value is equal to the value of the variable M) is not stored in the nonvolatile storage unit 280b, the control unit 270 performs steps SC110 to SC140. Needless to say, the processing is not executed.

  Next, control unit 270 determines whether or not the value of variable M is less than 16 (step SC150). If the determination result in step SC150 is “Yes”, the control unit 270 controls the audio output unit 260 to stop sound generation after measuring the passage of time according to the moving tempo of the virtual scroll bar. (Step SC160), the value of the variable M is incremented by “1” (Step SC170), and the processes after Step SC110 are repeatedly executed.

  As a result of the operations described above, for example, when the four operation content data shown in FIG. 9 are stored in the nonvolatile storage unit 280b, the sounds of C3, D3, F3, and C3 are sequentially predetermined. It is pronounced at the tempo. In addition, when the sound of D3 is generated, the velocity is adjusted, and the operation element 112 of the trackball unit 110 at the position (2, 2) is rotated about the x axis by the rotation amount α. Similarly, when the sound of F3 is generated, the pitch bend is adjusted, and the operation element 112 of the trackball unit 110 at the position (3, 4) is driven to rotate about the y axis by the rotation amount β. When the C3 sound is generated, the volume is adjusted and the operation element 112 of the trackball unit 110 at the position (4, 1) is driven to rotate about the z axis by the rotation amount γ.

  Thereafter, when the result of determination at step SC150 is “No”, control unit 270 determines whether mode switching has been instructed (step SC180), and when the result of determination is “No”, step SC100. The subsequent processing is executed repeatedly. On the other hand, when the determination result in step SC180 is “Yes”, the control unit 270 displays a mode identifier indicating the switching destination operation mode (recording mode in the present embodiment) in a predetermined area of the nonvolatile storage unit 280b. Is overwritten (step SC190), and the reproduction process is terminated.

  As described above, according to the recording / reproducing apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment, when operating in the recording mode, reproduction is performed by pressing each of the input / output devices 100 constituting the operation panel 230. In addition to being able to specify the pitch and sound generation timing of the sound to be generated in the mode, it is given to the sound corresponding to the input / output device 100 by performing an operation of rotating the operation element 112 when pressed. It is possible to specify the degree and volume of the sound effect to be performed. That is, according to the recording / reproducing apparatus 1 which concerns on this embodiment, it becomes possible to input abundant information with one input / output device 100 compared with the conventional performance apparatus. Further, when the recording / reproducing apparatus 1 is operated in the reproduction mode, a sound corresponding to the user's operation content on the operation panel 230 is reproduced and the operation element 112 of each input / output device 100 displays the operation content. It is rotationally driven to reproduce. For this reason, the user can listen to the sound reproduced according to his / her operation content, and can intuitively grasp the operation content through vision. As described above, according to the recording / reproducing apparatus 1 of the present invention, intuitive and interesting input / output can be performed.

(C: other embodiment)
As mentioned above, although one Embodiment of this invention was described, of course, you may add the deformation | transformation described below to the said embodiment.
(1) In the above-described embodiment, the case where the operation panel 230 is configured by arranging the input / output devices 100 in a 16th-order square matrix (that is, a 16 × 16 matrix) has been described. However, the operation panel may be configured by arranging two or more input / output devices 100 in a matrix, and the number of rows and columns of the matrix need not be the same.

(2) In the above-described embodiment, the case where the amount of rotation about each of the x-axis, y-axis, and z-axis is detected has been described. However, the amount of rotation about the x-axis and y-axis is the same as a general trackball. In such an aspect, the rotation amount detection sensors 116x and 116y may be constituted by so-called rotary encoders. Needless to say, it is not necessary to provide the drive motor 118z in the embodiment in which only the rotation amounts around the x-axis and the y-axis are detected as described above. In the above-described embodiment, the case where the tact switch 120 is used to detect the user's operation in the Z-axis direction with respect to each input / output device 100 has been described. However, a pressure sensitive sensor may be used instead of the tact switch. good. As described above, in the mode in which the user's operation in the Z-axis direction is detected by the pressure sensor, data corresponding to the pressure with which the user pushes the input device 100 is output. Instead, it becomes possible to detect the degree of the operation.
In the above-described embodiment, the case where the rotation amounts around the x-axis, y-axis, and z-axis are detected and recorded has been described. However, the rotation speed around each axis (that is, the rotation amount per unit time) Change) and rotational acceleration (that is, change in rotational speed per unit time) may be detected. This is because by detecting the rotational speed and rotational acceleration around each axis, it is possible to input more abundant information as compared with the conventional performance apparatus. As a specific mode for detecting the rotational speed and rotational acceleration around each axis, the rotation amount value of the operation element 112 is recorded every unit time while the operation element 112 is being pressed. In the column of rotation amount values recorded in this way, the rotation speed value is calculated by obtaining the difference between the rotation amount values adjacent to each other, and further, adjacent to each other in the column of rotation speed values thus calculated. A mode in which the rotational acceleration is calculated by obtaining the difference between the matching rotational speed values can be mentioned.

(3) Although no particular limitation is added in the above-described embodiment, it is a matter of course that colors or patterns may be provided on the surface of the operation element 112. When a pattern or color is added to the surface of the operation element 112, the appearance of the operation panel 230 can be improved. In addition, when adding a color or a pattern to the operation element 112, a different color or pattern may be added for each operation element, or a different color or pattern may be added for each column or row. In addition, depending on the form of the pattern to be added to the surface of the operation element 112, an effect that it becomes easy to visually grasp whether or not the operation element 112 is rotating is expected. Similarly to the performance device disclosed in Non-Patent Document 1, each trackball unit 110 is provided with a light emitting means such as an LED, and the light emitting means emits light in response to a user operation on the trackball unit 110. Also good.

(4) In the above-described embodiment, the operation content data stored in the nonvolatile storage unit 280b in the reproduction mode is sequentially read out, and a pitch sound corresponding to the value of the Y coordinate is output. If the rotation amount data is included, the corresponding operation element 112 is driven to rotate according to the rotation amount data, and the type of acoustic effect corresponding to the rotation direction indicated by the rotation amount data is rotated in that direction. The case where it gave with the degree according to quantity was demonstrated. However, rotation amount data is newly generated from the detection signals of the respective rotation amount detection sensors 116 of the trackball unit 110 in which the operation element 112 is driven to rotate in accordance with the rotation amount data recorded in the recording mode. An acoustic effect may be applied according to the rotation amount data. In this way, when a brake is applied to the operating element 112 that is rotationally driven in the reproduction mode, such as pressing the rotation with a finger, a signal indicating the rotation mode in the state in which the brake is applied is transmitted for each rotation. The sound is output from the amount detection sensor 116 and an acoustic effect corresponding to the output signal is given. That is, according to such an aspect, it is possible to manually adjust the acoustic effect of the sound being reproduced in the reproduction mode as appropriate.

(5) In the embodiment described above, the pitch value and the sound generation timing are associated with the coordinate value indicating the arrangement position of each input / output device 100 on the operation panel 230. However, the tone color may be associated with the sound generation timing instead of the sound generation timing. Of course it is good. Specifically, among the input / output devices 100 constituting the operation panel 230, the piano sound is input to the input / output device 100 in the first row, the guitar sound is input to the input / output device 100 in the second row, and the like. In other words, different instrument sounds are associated with each column. In the recording mode, when the operation content data is written in the nonvolatile storage unit 280b, the operation start time when the tact switch 120 of the input / output device 100 indicated by the operation content data is switched from OFF to ON and from ON to OFF are displayed. In the playback mode, the operation content data is read from the non-volatile storage unit 280b in ascending order and the time difference between the operation start time and the operation end time is written. The sound may be generated with the pitch and tone indicated by the operation content data for the time corresponding to the time. In the above-described embodiment, a case has been described in which velocity is assigned to the rotation direction about the x axis, pitch bend is assigned to the rotation direction about the y axis, and volume is assigned to the rotation direction about the z axis. However, the allocation of acoustic effects and acoustic parameters in each rotation direction is not limited to the above-described mode. For example, a parameter change or a control change may be assigned in the rotation direction around the z axis.

(6) In the above-described embodiment, the case where the pitch of the sound to be generated and the sound generation timing are designated by pressing the trackball unit 110 has been described. However, the operation is performed by rotating the operation element 112. The pitch and sound generation timing of the sound to be sounded in the mode may be designated. Specifically, a threshold value is set for the rotation amount of the operation element 112 around each of the X, Y, and Z axes, and at least one of the rotation amounts around each of the axes is not 0, When the rotation amount around the axis is also less than the above threshold, the control unit 270 may determine that the operation is to specify the pitch and the sound generation timing. Needless to say, if the amount of rotation about any of the axes is equal to or greater than the threshold value, the control unit 270 determines that the operation is to specify the pitch, the sound generation timing, and the degree of the sound effect.

(7) In the above-described embodiment, when recording and reproducing the user's operation contents on the operation panel 230 and outputting a sound according to the operation contents, that is, playing the recording / reproducing apparatus 1 according to the present invention. The case of using as an apparatus has been described. However, the application target of the recording / reproducing apparatus according to the present invention is not limited to a performance apparatus. For example, a computer game machine is required to provide intuitive and interesting input / output, and input / output abundant information. Any electronic device is applicable as long as the electronic device is required.

1 is a perspective view showing an external appearance of a recording / reproducing apparatus 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention. 3 is a plan view of an operation panel 230 of the recording / reproducing apparatus 1. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a trackball unit 110 that constitutes the input / output device 100. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an electrical configuration of the recording / reproducing apparatus 1. FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a data format of operation content data of the recording / reproducing apparatus 1. FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of the table memorize | stored in the non-volatile memory | storage part 280b of the recording / reproducing apparatus 1. FIG. It is a flowchart which shows the flow of the operation | movement which the control part 270 of the recording / reproducing apparatus 1 performs according to a control program. It is a flowchart which shows the flow of the recording process which the control part 270 performs in recording mode. It is a figure which shows an example of the operation content data written in the non-volatile memory | storage part 280b by a recording process. It is a flowchart which shows the flow of the reproduction | regeneration processing which the control part 270 performs in reproduction | regeneration mode.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Recording / reproducing apparatus, 100 ... Input / output device, 110 ... Track ball unit, 112 ... Operator, 114 ... Support member, 116,116x, 116y, 116z ... Rotation amount detection sensor, 118,118x, 118y, 118z ... Drive Motor 120, tact switch 130 130 biasing member 210 display unit 220 operation unit 230 operation panel 240 sensor interface unit 250 drive motor driver 260 audio signal output unit 270 control Part, 280 ... storage part, 290 ... bus.

Claims (3)

(A) storage means;
(B) A spherical operation element, a support means for rotatably supporting the operation element, a rotation amount and a rotation direction of the operation element rotating while being supported by the support means, and a rotation indicating the detection result A trackball having a sensor for outputting quantity data and drive means for rotating the operation element according to the rotation control data when the rotation control data indicating the rotation direction and the rotation amount of the operation element is given from the outside Input / output means comprising a plurality of units arranged in a matrix;
(C) It operates in one of two operation modes of a recording mode and a reproduction mode. In the recording mode, rotation amount data output from the sensor of each trackball unit constituting the input / output means While writing to the storage means for each ball unit, in the reproduction mode, the rotation amount data stored in the storage means is sequentially read for each trackball and given to the corresponding trackball unit driving means as the rotation control data. Control means;
(D) a switch for switching the operation mode of the control means;
  A recording / reproducing apparatus comprising:   Audio output means for outputting an audio signal under the control of the control means;
  Each trackball unit is pre-associated with a different sound,
  The control means, when giving the rotation amount data read from the storage means in the playback mode to the drive means of the corresponding trackball unit as the rotation control data, outputs an audio signal indicating the sound corresponding to the trackball unit. Controlling the audio output means to output
  The recording / reproducing apparatus according to claim 1.   The direction of rotation of the operation element of each trackball unit is associated with the type of acoustic effect to be applied to the sound corresponding to the trackball unit, and the degree of addition of the acoustic effect to the amount of rotation. Associated with,
  When the control means receives the rotation amount data from the sensor of the trackball unit when controlling the sound output means to output the sound signal of the sound corresponding to each trackball unit in the reproduction mode. Controls the sound output means to give the sound the type of sound effect indicated by the rotation amount data to the sound at the degree indicated by the rotation amount data.
  The recording / reproducing apparatus according to claim 2.

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